This invention related to inked ribbon cartridges and more particularly to a cartridge for mounting in a printer or similar machine for storing a substantial length of ribbon and delivering it in a continuous or intermittent motion for printing purposes across a long print column.
In the past, it has been common to store ribbon in a stuffing box or cartridge in folded form. Since the cartridge provides a housing from which ribbon by an endless loop can be supplied and returned, one needed only install the cartridge into an appropriate support on the printer to be ready for operation, thus substantially minimizing ribbon handling. Examples of such prior art ribbon handling arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,726,381; 3,621,968; 3,643,777; 2,685,357 and 3,989,132.
Problems, however, have been encountered with respect to such endless type ribbon arrangements, particularly where vast quantities of the ribbon are required to be stored and then exposed to a large print column of the order of 132 columns and wherein printing takes place at an extremely high rate. One approach to solving the ribbon problem, of course, is to make the cartridge wider and store a larger volume of ribbon. Ultimately, this becomes unfeasible because of lack of space requirements and the sheer difficulty of handling such a bulky ribbon. Another approach has been to make use of the entire ribbon surface of a wider ribbon. By tilting the cartridge properly, the moving ribbon can be made to move diagonally with respect to the print line such that the entire surface of the ribbon is available for printing. The use of a wider ribbon and the requirement for canting the ribbon relative to the print line, however, resulted in having the print head elevated in order that the upper edge of the canted ribbon could be reached. In application, the added elevation introduces disadvantages. These disadvantages became more acute at the higher speeds and the longer ribbon spans. Elevating the print head resulted in a more costly and more space-consuming design. Also, a special supporting structure had to be devised. This added structure and the increased elevation introduced vibration and other instability problems. Where a shuttle printer is involved, as for example shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,278, the added mass and elevation complicates the problem of attaining smooth, low power, high efficiency shuttle action.